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UN secret and dangerous report put the countries of alliance on Yemen in the blacklist

A senior UN adviser will recommend the Arab League, which includes several countries led by Saudi Arabia, be blacklisted for killing and maiming children in the war, US magazine Foreign Policy said.

19 August 2017

The Saudi-led military coalition and air strikes in Yemen carried out “gross violations” of human rights against children last year, killing 502 children and injuring 838, according to a draft report prepared by the Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres.

The 41-page draft of the UN report found that the killing and maiming of children in the Saudi war on Yemen remains the most widespread since March 2015, classifying it as a black list of law-abiding countries that kill children.

The air attacks in the reporting period accounted for more than half of the total number of injuries among children, killing at least 349 children and injuring 333 others.

Saudi Arabia and its allies have been trying to defeat Ansarullah and force it out of power in Yemen since the start of the US-backed package crisis in March 2015.

It added that the air strikes launched by the Saudi coalition in the war against Yemen since this date are under intense criticism, because they result in killing civilians, disrupting infrastructure and destroying the country’s architectural and cultural heritage.

The magazine pointed out that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on children subjected to ill-treatment in wartime Virginia Gamba is the main body of this confidential report.

According to a well-informed source, Gamba told senior UN officials on Monday she intended to recommend adding the Saudi-led coalition to the list of countries and entities that kill and maim children.

Guterres will have to make the decision and will announce the final report later this month.

The Saudi-led coalition in the war on Yemen was responsible for causing the largest number of casualties among children, she said, adding that Saudi Arabian Warplanes had destroyed 28 schools in Yemen.

Saudi officials secretly urged the United Nations to engage in high-level discussions prior to the publication of the report, and the Saudis pressed the United States, which in turn urged the United Nations not to include the “Saudi alliance” as described by the magazine, claiming that it was unfair to implicate All members of this alliance, including those not involved in such atrocities, according to two informed sources.

The magazine added that the United States then pressed the United Nations to include only the names of the member states of the coalition directly responsible for these atrocities, But officials said identifying specific countries as involved was a complicated task, because the coalition did not publish information on the role of each country in specific operations in the war on Yemen.